thanks everyone! The day she walked in my room it was like the lights went on. Here is a picture the local paper took of me tossing a pie. Paige had been in my class about a week. She was like velcro on me and I had to continually remind her to back up a bit. I had no idea she was emulating the toss till I looked at this picture a few months after it was taken. I got her going on hand stretch and a few weeks ago bought one of those rubber tossing doughs. Walter

Congrats to Paige! ...and thanks to her teacher! Walter, Ohio so needs more folks like you... you will be missed if/when you head to a warmer climate... The "rust belt" so needs visionaries ... and more NY pizza!

Congrats to Paige! ...and thanks to her teacher! Walter, Ohio so needs more folks like you... you will be missed if/when you head to a warmer climate... The "rust belt" so needs visionaries ... and more NY pizza!

Barry: She would love to do that. She is better than any paid adult asssistant I have in my 20 years in schools. I wish I could hire her but this is a union shop and my last adult aide was so bad I had her removed and put in another special ed room. Now I am aideless and probably will never get another one. Even if I could get another one I am not allowed in the hiring process. It would be handled by the district head of personel.

Here are some of Paige's hand tossed pies from today and a look into our store room, which was suppose to be a bathroom and our kitchen a regular classroom. Luckily I convinced the hire ups to turn us into a commercial space. Check out the 100% organic whole wheat flour we get from an Amish farmer. He plants/harvests with horses, stone grinds it with horses, and has no phone or computer. The Amish have some cool stuff about them! I am currently trying to find a local organic cheese maker to make us mozz. We have organic basil being grown at the high school in the next town over. They have a year round green house. It would be great to keep things organic and local but I will have to stay with my GM flour

Barry: Me too. She blows adults away as they watch her tossing pies. The newspaper was in for a photo shoot today. The story is scheduled for this weekend. They took a lot of pictures of Paige tossing. Thanks. Walter

Walter, how many more years will you have Paige in the school shop? I think I remember you saying that she will get a job at the local college cafeteria when she graduates high school. Of course, she will be the only one besides your wife working at the inevitable Tore Pizza, but that is many years away . Have you gotten the opportunity to talk with her parents much?

Walter, how many more years will you have Paige in the school shop? I think I remember you saying that she will get a job at the local college cafeteria when she graduates high school. Of course, she will be the only one besides your wife working at the inevitable Tore Pizza, but that is many years away . Have you gotten the opportunity to talk with her parents much?

Paige is working for Bon Appetit, the in house food people at Denison University. She works 25 hours a week after school and weekends for $10/hr which is unheard of around here for a first time job and probably earns more a week than any of the 1,700 students at our high school. She is technically a senior this year but because she is in special education can stay in school until her 22nd birthday (18 now). The plan is she will participate in the school graduation ceremony this June and come back to school in August. They let them do this so they can walk with their peers and will not release her from the system until her 22nd birthday or if she wants to leave before then. My students do not receive a HS diploma. They get a Certificate of Completion. It looks like a HS diploma but because they do not take regular education classes and the state graduation test a legitimate diploma cannot be given. It simply states they completed the course of instruction in their IEP. An IEP is an Individualized Education Plan. Theoretically this is a plan that addresses each students needs on an case by case basis. There are goals and objectives that are developed and when the set mastery level is reached new ones are made. These are written at least 1xyear. She lives with her grandparents and we have a good relationship. Thanks! Walter

Any videos of you or Paige or anyone demonstrating proper tossing technique?

Barry

Barry: Who the heck knows what is proper. I am at the point in my life where if you can produce what you want then you got it down to perfection no matter how you do it. Here is a couple of videos of Paige hand stretching. This is the best way to start out I have found for my students that have spacial, balance, etc, issues. From there tossing gets easier I think. The last video is of me tossing/hand stretching. The condition of the dough dictates what to do- stretch on the bench, hand stretch, toss. Nothing fancy in these videos and I bet if you google it on youtube you will find much better ones. I teach/learn best in the flesh. Walter